Sleep is what helps you greet the day with lots of energy and helps keep you powered all day long.
If you begin your day feeling sluggish and spend the rest of the day fatigued and unfocused then you’re not getting enough quality sleep.
Sure, you may sleep the recommended amount of time (7-8 hours). Yet, if it’s eight hours of restless sleep filled with tossing and turning, then it’s not very beneficial to your health.
Day-long bouts of fatigue and exhaustion not only affect your professional and personal productivity, they also affect your health. In addition to slowing your reaction time and information processing abilities, frequent fatigue and exhaustion can increase your risk of heart disease and inflammation. Plus, it makes you more vulnerable to viruses by impacting your immune system.
Instead of trying to temporarily “fix” your fatigue with over-the-counter sleep aids, there’s a more effective and natural way to improve your sleep quality: strength training.
Below, we’ll highlight some of the positive impacts strength training can have on your sleep quality.
Strength Training Creates Muscle Fatigue
As we mentioned in a previous article, exercise of any kind can help you sleep better. While cardio and aerobic exercises contribute to improved sleep quality, strength training is even more advantageous.
Why?
Individuals who introduce strength training into their exercise routine build more muscle mass. Since they’re giving their muscles more of a workout then those who only follow aerobic or cardio routines, they’re muscles experience more fatigue. And tired muscles lead to a tired body which can then lead to improved sleep.
Strength Training Produces Natural Sleep-Promoting Chemicals
It’s common for the sleep-deprived to seek a pill-shaped solution to their problem. Unfortunately, many over-the-counter sleep aids provide temporary relief. They may help you get a full eight hours of sleep, but the quality is still not optimal and you can quickly become dependent on these medications in order to sleep.
Some of these prescription sleep aids can have negative side effects that could affect your health in other ways, such as leaving you feeling foggy and disengaged during the day.
Rather than look for a man-made solution to poor sleep quality, the sleepless can find their answer in addressing the root causes of their sleep troubles and pursuing an exercise routine such as strength training.
By including strength training into their daily lives, individuals experience an increase in adenosine production. Adenosine is a chemical that helps the body become naturally drowsy.
While more leisurely cardio and aerobic exercises also produce adenosine, the amounts are too minimal to have much of an effect on sleep quality.
On the other hand, a more dynamic routine that includes strength training produces higher amounts of adenosine. These higher levels of adenosine help the body feel more fatigued which will likely result in a better night’s rest.
Strength Training Reduces Sleep-Disrupting Stressors
As we previously discussed, studies have shown that strength training improves mood and mental wellbeing by helping us better deal with stress and improve feelings of anxiety and depression.
Feelings such as these are often responsible for poor sleep quality. When these feelings weigh heavy on the mind, the body can’t easily drift into a state of relaxation. Unable to enter that state, the body remains restless and the brain works overtime. The result is a sleepless night.
However, strength training can naturally reduce these sleep-disrupting stressors. During a strength training workout, the body produces hormones called endorphins. These natural “feel good” chemicals help you and your body release these feelings and improve your overall well being. This in turn allows the body and mind to relax and enjoy a night of restful sleep.
In addition to regular strength training, going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, getting natural unfiltered (no sunglasses) sunlight first thing in the morning and frequently throughout the day, limiting alcohol and caffeine, avoiding electronics and blue light before bed, clearing your mind by journaling or talking to a loved one, using relaxation practices such as meditation or deep breathing, taking a warm bath with some lavender essential oil or doing a foot soak with magnesium flakes, and sleeping in a cool, dark room can all help promote a better, more restful nights sleep.
Enjoy Improved Sleep With Loyalty Fitness’ 30-Minute Workout
Although any exercise helps to improve sleep, a quick but effective strength training session with Loyalty Fitness is even more beneficial. Our 30-minute workouts help strengthen and tire out your muscles while producing those natural “feel good” chemicals that reduce stress and promote deeper sleep.
Want to improve the quality of your sleep? Contact us today to schedule your first strength training session!